Chapter 00220: He Chunhua's Methods
# He Chunhua's Methods
Chapter 220
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 220: He Chunhua's Methods
The smoke swirled without wind, as if something inside was about to take shape.
If the He family brothers were here, they would likely be greatly startled, not expecting their father to play with such tricks.
But just at that moment, the candlelight burst with a pop, exploding into sparks.
Old Mo, the steward, immediately felt that the atmosphere had changed; he watched in astonishment as the blue smoke slowly dispersed, returning to nothingness, regardless of how He Chunhua chanted repeatedly.
It was evident that this time the spell was hindered and could not proceed smoothly.
Old Mo looked on anxiously and couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"
He Chunhua wiped the sweat from his forehead, "It refuses to respond to the summons, saying there are more powerful existences nearby."
Old Mo was astonished, "More powerful existences? This is just a small county town; what could possibly be so formidable?" He asked, "What does the master plan to do?"
"While it is still before the hour of the rat, we should find another place, preferably to the east."
Old Mo tidied up the items, and He Chunhua donned a cloak, hurrying out the door.
However, they had only descended two steps when Madam Ying woke up, her eyes still bleary as she came out and asked, "Ah, where are you going at this late hour?"
"I'm going out to take care of something, I'll be back soon," He Chunhua said in a low voice, "You should sleep, don't worry."
His lowered tone indicated that there was no room for discussion.
Madam Ying was very familiar with her husband's style and did not think much of it; she simply said, "Be careful," before returning to her room.
...
He Lingchuan, who was sound asleep, turned over.
He knew he was dreaming again, but this time he did not directly enter Panlong City; instead, he returned to the scene from a few months ago when he fell into the ruins' pool.
At that time, in the Panlong ruins, the He family father and son, along with Sun Fuping leading the Black Water City army, had captured prey from the sea of sand and bled it into the pool.
After the spirits of the Gale Army appeared, He Lingchuan accidentally fell into the pool, surrounded by water.
Dark red blood water.
This was no well; it was clearly an unfathomable abyss.
He Lingchuan floated in the water, dazed, as a green light flashed above, about to dive into the water.
At least He Lingchuan felt that the top layer of the pool water seemed to have turned a light green.
This light green quickly spread downward.
But at that moment, He Lingchuan noticed that the water beneath his feet began to surge.
He looked down and saw a gigantic red figure moving in the depths of the pool.
With each movement, the pool water created massive whirlpools.
The calm abyss suddenly became turbulent, with countless undercurrents interacting with each other.
The little bit of green light above was instantly shattered, disappearing completely.
He Lingchuan swam downward, wanting to seize the time to see the true form of the red figure.
After months apart, he had almost forgotten that there was such a colossal creature in the outer layer of the dream.
What was it doing here?
The closer he swam, the more he felt its enormity.
But the light grew dimmer, and soon he could see nothing at all.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in the bustling streets of Panlong City, where a vendor carrying a load of jewelry stuttered a smile at him: "Guest, guest, this little brother, would you like to buy a flower made of pearls to give to someone?"
...
In this small place of Ruxian, there was no curfew; the night was deep, and the watchman had just left, with not even a wild dog on the road.
It was now the first month of the lunar calendar, and the ground was often covered in snow.
It had snowed again tonight, and no one would be up to sweep the streets until tomorrow morning.
The snow on the ground reflected light, preventing the surroundings from being pitch black.
He Chunhua and Old Mo walked east through the snow, their boots crunching with each step.
They did not bring any attendants.
The further east they went, the sparser the houses became.
Eventually, Old Mo pointed to a dilapidated house and said, "This is the one where I've seen the snow piled the highest at the entrance; there should be no one here."
The snow had nearly piled up to the latch level, indicating that this door had not been opened for at least half a month.
"There's over a hundred zhang to the post station; let's give it a try," He Chunhua nodded and, together with Old Mo, climbed over the courtyard wall.
The courtyard was similarly piled high with snow; the trees and crops had long since withered, and the door was half-open, devoid of any human presence.
The situation was dire, and there were a hundred reasons for a house to be abandoned.
The two entered the small house and closed the doors and windows.
The gaps in the windows were large, allowing the cold wind to still rush in, accompanied by a low whistling sound, like the howling of a rock wolf, requiring Old Mo to stuff straw to seal it.
The wooden door was slightly deformed; the two worked together to close it and propped it with a millstone.
This took some effort, and He Chunhua rubbed his hands together, saying, "Hurry up, the time is almost up."
If they missed the time, they would have to wait another day; they had no extra time to waste in Ruxian.
He Chunhua righted the overturned table, relit the green candle, and began to chant the incantation.
Old Mo also took out the Shoushan stone paperweight, holding it tightly in his hand.
This time, the blue smoke took shape very smoothly, eventually condensing into a vague image, unclear whether it was a ghost face or a dog face, but it certainly had a nose and a mouth.
The temperature in the room suddenly dropped again, and frost flowers formed on the table.
Although this face had only two empty eye sockets, the two could sense it was observing them, faintly harboring ill intentions.
Sure enough, the next second, the face lunged forward without warning.
Old Mo had been instructed by He Chunhua beforehand and did not move at all.
As the blue smoke was about to cross the table, He Chunhua flicked his left hand, revealing the palm of the Shèjì Lìng.
The luck of the nation could suppress evil spirits!
The blue smoke was startled and quickly retreated, distancing itself at least four feet away.
Since this person was untouchable, it turned to find Old Mo.
Old Mo was a loyal servant of the He family, but he was not a court official, so naturally, he did not have protective qi.
However, the paperweight in his hand suddenly emitted a blue light, and the carved kite head turned around, its red eyes locking onto the blue smoke.
Under its gaze, the blue smoke suddenly froze in mid-air, nearly dissipating.
After a while, the smoke gathered again, and the ghost face became clearer, staring intently at He Chunhua, tilting its head as if in inquiry, but its expression was no longer as casual as before.
He Chunhua said sternly, "I offer you a delicacy, but he is protected by a talisman and formation; you may not be able to find him."
He raised the note with Li Zhao's birth date and placed it on the candle to ignite it:
"This is his birth date."
The note caught fire and quickly turned to ashes.
The blue smoke rolled on the table, sucking up all the ashes, not leaving a single one behind.
The flame flickered, clearly showing its interest.
He Chunhua asked, "Can you find him?"
The blue smoke did not respond.
Indeed, merely relying on the birth date was not enough; Li Zhao was under the protection of the spell, preventing evil spirits from tracking him down.
He Chunhua then took out the porcelain bottle from his fingertip.
The bottle stopper was surprisingly tight, and even He Chunhua had to exert some effort to pull it off, indicating the deep disdain of the person who had collected the specimen.
Qian Guan Shi was not wrong; the liquid that poured out after brewing for two or three days was foul-smelling, stinky, and yellow.
He Chunhua pinched his nose and dripped two drops onto the candle wick, fearing it would extinguish the flame.
However, to be honest, this smell was far from the "fragrant dumplings" made by the sand bandits of Hongya Road; that stuff was a true biochemical weapon.
With a "hiss," the candle flame shot up high, turning a deep green, casting the two faces at the table in a ghastly green hue, quite terrifying.
The blue smoke became even more solid, and eyeballs began to grow out—each eye socket sprouted three firm pupils, within which light flickered erratically, not to be looked at closely.
Being able to see represented that it had a target and direction.
"He has done many bad deeds both in front of and behind others; he should be your favorite prey," He Chunhua reminded it, "He once encountered a great flood in his youth, abandoning his close brother, leading to his drowning. This matter may be a knot in his heart; you might as well start from here."
The three vertical pupils of the ghost face suddenly merged into one, and the face became very clear, slowly opening its mouth to form a smile.
But this mouth opened too wide, at an angle of about one hundred and forty to fifty degrees, stretching the cheeks, eyes, and even the forehead, distorting the muscles and wrinkles, looking as if a wax figure was about to melt.
More terrifying than encountering a ghost face was this ghost face silently laughing maniacally at him.
Steward Old Mo felt a chill run down his back, breaking out in goosebumps.
He Chunhua, however, remained unfazed: "Found it? Go, while it is still dark."
The ghost face glanced at the two of them, suddenly turned, and floated out, its form becoming increasingly faint.
Before it reached the door, it vanished.
The candle extinguished as well.
Steward Old Mo blinked, as if waking from a dream.
Looking around the room, it seemed different from before, but he couldn't quite say how.
Hmm, it seemed that eerie atmosphere had vanished.
He Chunhua turned to him and said, "You just fell asleep."
Asleep? How could that be? He had been guarding the master, fully focused the whole time.
Seeing his disbelief, He Chunhua pointed to the corner of his mouth.
Old Mo reached up to touch it, finding it wet.
He had actually drooled, and it was hanging long, without him even realizing it.
This meant that he had indeed been dazed.
"Did the master also see the blue smoke?"
"Of course, we are in the same dream," He Chunhua pointed to the kite-shaped paperweight in his hand, "Without this treasure to protect you, you wouldn't have been able to wake up."
Old Mo shivered, "So powerful, I didn't even know when I was caught."
If he was so unprepared, then what about Li Zhao, who was dozens of miles away?
"Li Zhao has a magical tool for protection; ordinary evil spirits cannot approach him. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to exert so much effort," He Chunhua said, as the green candle burned down to just over half, "This thing is its food; otherwise, how would it respond to my summons? Unfortunately, the candle is hard to come by; there isn't enough to cast again."
Old Mo asked him, "Master, why only mention one knot in Li Zhao's heart?"
"He won't dwell on that matter of one corpse with two lives," He Chunhua waved his hand, "A minor concubine, dead is dead. Do you think he lacks women or descendants?"
At this point, he recalled something and frowned tightly: "But what is going on with the post station? What powerful being nearby could suppress my spell?"
￥￥￥￥￥
Old Master Li dreamed again of that unforgettable summer.
He hadn't had this dream in a long time; his brother was even kinder to him than usual, gifting him a particularly beautiful belt.
The children stripped off their tops on the stone beach and jumped into the river to play, the cool river water washing away the sweltering heat.
Everyone was having a great time when voices came from afar.
Li Zhao looked up to see a girl carrying a medicine basket, standing halfway up the mountain, waving frantically at them while calling out.
It was too far away, and the sound of the water was too loud; no one could hear what she was saying.
(The chapter ends here.)